1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid detergent based on nonionic and anionic surfactants as well as on particulate builder materials and containing additives, which are particularly effective in enhancing the wash efficiency as regards oily and greasy soils.
The use of nonionic surfactants in detergents serves primarily to improve their ability to clean oily and greasy soils. In free-flowing particulate detergents, however, the amount of customary liquid nonionic surfactants is limited by the capacity of the solid detergent constituents to take up or adsorb liquid constituents. In most cases, the free-flowing property of the detergent is decreased when nonionic liquid surfactants are used in an amount which is desirable. Furthermore, the nonionic surfactants are difficult to process in the hot spray method when used on a large scale in detergent manufacturing. Detergents having a high content of nonionic surfactants can, on the other hand, be manufactured without problems as anhydrous liquid to pasty detergents as described within the scope of this invention as liquid detergents. "Anhydrous" in this context, means that the detergents contain water, only in so far as the raw materials used for their manufacture themselves contain small amounts of water; in other words, water is not added to the detergent composition as a constituent of the formulation.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A liquid detergent based on nonionic surfactants and particulate builder materials is known from German patent application 36 21 536 which contains a liquid surfactant component of nonionic and anionic surfactants as well as polyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of approximately 200 to 600. Pursuant thereto, the addition of polyethylene glycol has the effect of improving the viscosity and speed of dissolution of the detergent. However, polyethylene glycol makes practically no contribution to the washing result. An object of the present invention was therefore the preparation of liquid detergents having satisfactory viscosity properties, high speed of dissolution and improved wash efficiency.